{"425671":{"#nid":"425671","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Making Georgia\u0027s aerospace industry shine: Steve Justice, BSAE \u002780","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIf there\u2019s a philosophy that guides AE alumnus R. Steven Justice in his job as the director for the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/aerospace.georgiainnovation.org\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Center for Innovation in Aerospace\u003C\/a\u003E, it comes directly from the 1983 film\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Right Stuff\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201c\u2019No bucks, no Buck Rogers,\u2019\u201d says Justice, with a light-hearted chuckle that quickly turns to steely analysis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt takes money to develop the technology that drives our industry. If you can\u2019t get the funding, you can\u2019t make things happen \u2013 in aerospace or anywhere else.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJustice does not really wonder if there are bucks in this enterprise \u2013 there are more than 700 aerospace-related industries in Georgia, generating in excess of $50 billion in annual economic impact - but neither is he comfortable with the status quo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAerospace exports in Georgia have gone up 600 percent over the last 10 years, but the public doesn\u2019t see that. They think of Washington State or Wichita, Kansas, because they can see the big businesses centered in those places,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn Georgia, the industry is spread out across most of the state \u2013 only eight counties [out of 159] don\u2019t have some sort of aerospace-related business. So our job, really, is to create a more visible, marketable community.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJustice made these observations as he strolled through the sprawling 2014 AIAA Aviation Conference \u2013 an event that he lobbied to bring to Atlanta. All around him in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency were businessmen, professors, grad students, and government leaders talking about their joint interests and future plans. He couldn\u2019t help but smile at this convergence, but he wasn\u2019t about to get giddy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENetworking is everything. Steve Justice, left, striking up a conversation with Dr. Pradeep Raj, a former Georgia Tech AE faculty who attended the AIAA Aviation Conference in Atlanta this week.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe tend to be silo-ed in Georgia \u2013 where very exciting things are happening all over the place, but the businesses don\u2019t necessarily talk to each other because they think that they are competitors,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe great thing the Center has been able to do is to break that myth, to get companies to work together and with academia to raise their profile and improve their competitiveness.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne such partnership \u2013 between the Kennesaw-based Area 1 Engineering and a local college \u2013 has allowed that company to test its fledgling UAV technology in preparation for eventual commercial use.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Paulding County, the Center has brought together 15 companies to form the Paulding Aerospace Alliance, a group that now pools its resources to market its members and collaborate on contracts. Justice is also forging a foundational relationship between Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cstar.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Space Technology and Research\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E(C-STAR) and the burgeoning aerospace industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a push-pull situation. Academia \u2013 particularly Georgia Tech \u2013 are technology pushers. They push out well-researched technologies that industry needs,\u201d says Justice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur job is to pull those technologies to industry, where they can bring the aerospace industry forward.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA former business owner and a longtime engineer with such giants as Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman, Justice relishes his current role, which casts him as a dealmaker, problem-solver, and management consultant for hundreds of aerospace-related businesses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSometimes, what a business is looking for is venture capital, and we can put them in touch with the right resources. Other times, they need to market themselves better, or find a collaborator, and we can help them there,\u201d he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince joining the Center four years ago, Justice has increasingly relied on data-driven metrics. His management team has created an accurate catalogue of the state\u2019s aerospace companies so that regional partnerships can be identified and pursued. He also commissioned Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/about-us\/\u0022\u003EEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to do an economic impact study on the aerospace industry. The results of that study have given Justice some powerful ammunition in his battle to change public perception.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe needs little provocation to use it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAerospace industries produce the number one international export for the state -- $7.8 billion. The industry employs almost 90,000 people,\u201d he says. \u201cThat, alone, tells you Georgia\u2019s aerospace industry is thriving.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/aerospace.georgiainnovation.org\/images\/public\/reports\/Aerospace%20impact%20analysis.pdf\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the study.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut it\u2019s what he calls the \u201csmall victories\u201d that give him the most satisfaction at the end of the day.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of small to mid-sized companies don\u2019t know where to go to get quality research or how to market their product to a large corporation. We can help them navigate the system, get results. It may not mean thousands of new jobs, but when they come back and tell us it worked, we know we\u2019ve done the right thing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn addition to serving on the Advisory Board for the Georgia Tech School of Aerospace Engineering, Steve Justice has served on the national Board of Directors of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and AIAA Technical Committees on Society and Aerospace Technology, Structural Dynamics, and General Aviation. He has received the Red Dot Design Award, was inducted into the Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni, and received the AIAA Distinguished Service Award.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"AE alumnus R. Steven Justice in his job as the director for the Georgia Center for Innovation in Aerospace."}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-07-16 12:36:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:08","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"135431","name":"R. Steven Justice"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}